Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:12:24 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: rehash of mundanes VS fans
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

At 09:03 AM 4/20/05 -0700, N Lynch wrote:
>--- "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com> wrote:
>> I'm not sure that "weird conventions" and "not held
>> in high regard" go
>> together of necessity.  Consider Shriners.  They
>> have some of the weirdest
>> conventions I know of, but they are generally held
>> in fairly high regard.  Why is that?
>
>Probably because they (1) are established as a
>charitable organization for much longer than fandom,

They are seen as that, while fandom isn't.  I don't know about length of
time being much of a factor once you pass a few years.

>(2) come from a long tradition of men's clubs who get
>together for social and charity work,

Yeah, and most are seen as a bit odd...but acceptable insofar as they do
"good works".  If they don't do charitable things too (that the public
sees), they are just seen as a waste of time where guys go to hide from
their wives and drink and play cards.

>(3) aren't portrayed as *STAR TREK*
>live-in-parent's-basement-geeks in the media,

Any group with a higher than average intelligence, but generally lacking in
"social intelligence", is going to get tagged that way by those with more
social intelligence but less of the other sorts.  Take Mensa for example.

>(4) don't have conventions covered in the media as a look
>at the geeks and women in little clothing,

The Shriners get covered pretty well, and it's a "look at the chubby old
guys with the funny hats pretending to be college frat boys" deal.  If it
wasn't for the charity work shifting that attitude away from "weird" and
"pitiful" over toward "eccentric", they'd be a joke too.

>(5) are prominent as a charity group, not as a group of geeks
>who get together, etc.

Exactly my point.  What's the reason that fandom can't have that too?

>actors we've met.  My brother-in-law still thinks we
>worship William Shatner in fandom.

Shatner is disgusting.  Sounds like your BIL needs some education to base a
real opinion on.  Without actual data it's just so much swamp gas.

>Fandom has been usurped by media fandom, comic fandom,
>and anime fandom.  It's a little too late to try and
>change that.

Why?

>Remember the trial in the West a few
>years ago when a TREK fan insisted on her TREK uniform
>to be on the jury every day?  I've never heard of a
>Shriner doing something similar.

I have heard of black people insisting on dashikis and other "ethnic"
clothing, and an anti-establishment type insisting on a "Here Come Da
Judge" T-shirt (unsuccessfully BTW).  There are people with non-mainstream
preferences and points to make in all walks of life, and sometimes they get
called for jury duty.

>As for fandom being so accepting, I sure didn't get
>than impression this past year.  A conservative member
>of the club even quit over it.

Details?

I've been out of "fandom" for a decade or so, but I was in for a couple of
decades before that, and the level of acceptance for "unusual" attitudes
and behaviors was always very high.  If that's changed, that's sad.  It
also makes me wonder what "standards" have been adopted to use to decide
who's acceptable and who isn't?

-- Mike B.
--
Energy equals milk chocolate square.